This recording of an OK2Ask online professional learning session from May 2018, opens in Adobe Connect. Input and expertise from peers can help students learn and grow. Learn to use Flipgrid, a video discussion platform, to increase student voice in your classroom. This tech tool can enhance social learning through sharing short videos centered around a topic. Getting started is easy, and after this session, you will be ready to use Flipgrid to encourage every student to share what they know. Participants will: 1. Learn to create a basic classroom Flipgrid; 2. Understand ways to use Flipgrid to increase student voice in the classroom; and 3. Plan for the use of Flipgrid in the classroom. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

In the Classroom

The archive of this teacher-friendly, hands-on webinar will empower and inspire you to use learning technology in the classroom and for professional productivity. As appropriate, specific classroom examples and ideas have been shared. View the session with a few of your teaching colleagues to find and share new ideas. Find additional information and links to tools at the session resource page. Learn more about OK2Ask and upcoming sessions here.

Economic Games offers over 40 multiplayer games and 10 simulations to learn economic concepts. Game topics vary from impacts of patents on research and development to an introduction to the stock market. All games include complete details and an introductory demo. To create multiplayer games the instructor selects the number of players and chooses the Get Logins link. Student logins and passwords display in a popup; players use this information to access and begin play. Be sure to view the How to Play link for full information on starting and sharing games. The site was created in France, so some of the pronunciations and spellings may differ from those in American English. Currency is in Euros, not dollars.

In the Classroom

Include games from this site as part of economics and financial literacy lessons. This site is perfect for use with gifted students for independent study with peers. After completing games, ask students to use a digital storytelling tool like Book Creator, reviewed here, to explain complex financial concepts in an easy to understand manner.

The Free Technology Curriculum from Google provides a series of units for middle school and up for practical problem solving with digital tools. Select options from the site for learners, instructors, or to the entire curriculum. Select options within the curriculum by grade level. Each option provides a series of lessons teaching skills like collaboration and problem-solving along with rubrics for assessment of projects.

In the Classroom

Bookmark this site to include with other resources in your technology curriculum. Share with teachers of other subjects as a way to integrate content across topic areas. Use these units with gifted students as part of independent projects. Include finished projects in an online portfolio tool like bulb, reviewed here, to include with college applications. Take advantage of the videos included in the learner's portion of the site to share with students to reinforce concepts like collaboration, organization, and research techniques.

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional learning session from March 2018, opens in Adobe Connect. Effective formative assessment can improve student learning. Explore how the use of infographics as a formative assessment strategy can both engage students and improve learning. This workshop will help you understand what infographics are, what makes them effective, and how powerful they can be when infused into content-area instruction. Infographic creation requires the application of a range of critical skills, such as synthesis, analysis, organization, and creativity. In order to summarize and convey information correctly, clearly, and concisely, students must understand the material and their audience. Join us and learn how to get started using infographics for formative assessment. Participants will: 1. Understand what infographics are and the elements that make them effective; 2. Explore strategies for using infographics to gather evidence of student progress; and 3. Plan for student use of infographics as formative assessment. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

In the Classroom

The archive of this teacher-friendly, hands-on webinar will empower and inspire you to use learning technology in the classroom and for professional productivity. As appropriate, specific classroom examples and ideas have been shared. View the session with a few of your teaching colleagues to find and share new ideas. Find additional information and links to tools at the session resource page. Learn more about OK2Ask and upcoming sessions here.

Cha-Ching is a financial literacy program developed for use with students in grades K-6. Animated videos provide lessons on saving and earning money, entrepreneurship, and charity. Each lesson includes classroom activity guides and several also include family activity guides. Educator guides provide complete details for teaching with the videos and correlation to financial literacy and social studies standards.

In the Classroom

Take advantage of these free lessons and videos to teach financial literacy in your classroom. Collect student ideas on how to save and earn money onto an online bulletin board like Lino, reviewed here. Lino offers the ability to include images, videos, and comments. Have students take pictures of different ways financial situations were faced over the course of a month then create a collage for your class using an image editor like Fotor, reviewed here. Have students use their imagination to create a financial adventure game using Scratch, reviewed here. Scratch is an easy to use program that brings adventures to life through interactive stories, animations, and games.

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional learning session from February 2018, opens in Adobe Connect. Making a learning environment accessible for everyone is critical to a successful inclusive classroom. Today's classrooms are diverse and include English Language Learners and students with learning challenges, whether they have been identified or not. Every teacher needs to be able to create and deliver content in a way that is accessible to each student. Fortunately, teachers already have free technologies at their disposal to assist with this. Join us as we explore strategies and tools that facilitate an inclusive learning environment. Participants will: 1. Understand the importance of accessibility; 2. Explore Microsoft tools that can be used to create accessible materials; and 3. Identify an easy new habit, hack, and/or tool they can adopt to help make the material accessible for their students. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

In the Classroom

The archive of this teacher-friendly, hands-on webinar will empower and inspire you to use learning technology in the classroom and for professional productivity. As appropriate, specific classroom examples and ideas have been shared. View the session with a few of your teaching colleagues to find and share new ideas. Find additional information and links to tools at the session resource page. Learn more about OK2Ask and upcoming sessions here.

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional learning session from January 2018, opens in Adobe Connect. Inspire technology integrated lessons for student learning based on web-based resources. Learn about the features and benefits of your free TeachersFirst membership. This session will briefly share how to find and use resources on TeachersFirst to help you save time. Remember, it is OK2Ask questions at any time! Participants will: 1. Explore TeachersFirst membership features; 2. Identify and share resources to support classroom instruction; and 3. Prepare to use the features of TeachersFirst membership to maximize student learning. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

In the Classroom

The archive of this teacher-friendly, hands-on webinar will empower and inspire you to use learning technology in the classroom and for professional productivity. As appropriate, specific classroom examples and ideas have been shared. View the session with a few of your teaching colleagues to find and share new ideas. Find additional information and links to tools at the session resource page. Learn more about OK2Ask and upcoming sessions here.

The Year-End Roundup includes 179 questions asked by the New York Times Learning Network between September 2016 and June 2017. Each prompt promotes discussion on current events appropriate for students 13 years and older. Choose the link to any question to read a short article with background information and suggested points to consider. Download the complete list in a PDF form for easy reference; however, this form doesn't include links to the articles and additional information.

In the Classroom

Bookmark and save this site as a resource for writing prompts, current events discussions, or as a springboard to debate topics. Before writing, encourage students to research their topic and take notes. Use an online note-taking site like Google Keep, reviewed here, to save and share notes. Have students share their completed projects in a blog and ask for feedback from their peers using Telegra.ph, reviewed here. There is no registration with Telegra.ph and you just click on an icon to upload images from your computer, add a YouTube or Vimeo, or Twitter links. Take completed writing projects one step further and ask students to create a Story Map, reviewed here. Story Map offers the ability to tell a story through interactive maps including video, images, and more.

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional learning session from November 2017, opens in Adobe Connect. Transform your classroom activities by learning how to use Sutori. Engage students and deepen content area knowledge through digital stories. Text, audio, video, discussion forums, and quiz questions bring additional context to content area instruction for your students. Use student-created visual stories and timelines as formative assessment. Brainstorm with others how you and your students can use Sutori in your classroom. Participants will: 1. Learn basic use of Sutori; 2. Explore three different ways to use Sutori in the classroom; and 3. Plan for the use of Sutori in the classroom. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

In the Classroom

The archive of this teacher-friendly, hands-on webinar will empower and inspire you to use learning technology in the classroom and for professional productivity. As appropriate, specific classroom examples and ideas have been shared. View the session with a few of your teaching colleagues to find and share new ideas. Find additional information and links to tools at the session resource page. Learn more about OK2Ask and upcoming sessions here.

This recording of an OK2Ask online professional learning session from October 2017, opens in Adobe Connect. Dust off your digital passport and join us on a journey using the new Google Earth web. Learn the key features of Google Earth web and how to incorporate this powerful tool into your classroom instruction. The reimagined version of Google Earth includes features that go beyond the use of maps and satellite imagery. Users can now explore the world with Voyager, Google Earth's showcase of guided tours, and try out the 3D button to view places from any angle. Leave with classroom ideas and lesson planning resources. Participants will: 1. Get acquainted with the key features of Google Earth web; 2. Explore interactive guided tours with Voyager; and 3. Start building your own Tour for Google Earth web. This session is appropriate for teachers at all technology levels.

In the Classroom

The archive of this teacher-friendly, hands-on webinar will empower and inspire you to use learning technology in the classroom and for professional productivity. As appropriate, specific classroom examples and ideas have been shared. View the session with a few of your teaching colleagues to find and share new ideas. Find additional information and links to tools at the session resource page. Learn more about OK2Ask and upcoming sessions here.

Help create a financially literate generation by using the suggestions, games, and programs found on this blog page. Presented as an easy-to-read infographic, find suggestions for parents at the top and programs to use ranging from ages 6 through college level. As stated in this blog post, 54% of children purchase mobile apps, and 41% use their mobiles to make general purchases. It's ever more important to teach children, adolescents, and young adults that they are buying their music, personal items, and games with REAL money, not virtual money. This blog shows you how to do that starting at an early age. There is an embed code at the bottom of the page under "Share This Image On Your Page."This site includes advertising.

Discovering Farmland takes an interactive look at agriculture based on the documentary film, "Farmland, a film by James Moll." Engage in clips from the documentary to deliver lessons about farming as industry, stereotypes, and challenges in farming and ranching. Take a virtual field trip to learn about the innovative technology used in agriculture. Be sure to check out the Exploration portion of the site to find out more about food labels found at the grocery store.

In the Classroom

Use video clips found on the site to share information about farming and agriculture with your students. If you are new to integrating technology in your classroom, consider having students create blogs about a "day in the life" of a farmer or rancher. An easy to use blog creator is Telegra.ph, here. Telegra.ph will create a "quick and easy" blog to be used one time only. A unique URL is provided, and with Telegra.ph you just click on an icon to upload images from your computer, add a YouTube or Vimeo, or Twitter links. It's as easy as using a basic Word program! For teachers who are more experienced with integrating technology in their classroom, challenge cooperative learning groups to create podcasts sharing their insights on different types of farming and how technology has changed the agriculture industry.
Create podcasts using a site such as Spreaker, reviewed here. You could give students a choice, either a podcast or to use a mapping tool such as Zeemaps, reviewed here, to create a map of different types of farms found around the country or the world. With Zeemaps you can include audio stories and pictures.

FutureSmart is an interactive personal finance course designed for students in grades 6-8. The three and a half hour course correlates to National Standards and covers a variety of topics including budgeting, goal-setting, and planning for the future. Enroll using your school email address to register students and access your dashboard that includes student reports and supplemental materials. Be sure to download the information sheet that includes additional details about all available features.

In the Classroom

Incorporate FutureSmart into your flipped classroom, assign different modules as homework. If integrating technology use in your classroom, try using an online bulletin board tool like Dotstorming, reviewed here, to have students post important decisions they made as mayor while advising citizens about their finances. Then discuss their decisions together in class. Allow students to make comments on the bulletin board during this discussion time, so all students will have a chance to express their opinions. Have students create a personal budget (or work in pairs to create an annual classroom budget) at the end of the course. Challenge students to create a presentation sharing what they learned using an interactive infographic like Infogram, reviewed here.

Does your school block YouTube and other video sites? Download and save online videos with ClipGrab. Download the app to your computer to save videos from YouTube, Vimeo, Metacafe, and more. When downloading, choose the original format for best quality or convert to MP3, WMV, MPEG4, or OGG file formats.

In the Classroom

Use this service to backup your videos from YouTube and other sites. Use to download and save videos at home that you wish to show to students, especially if the school or district blocks them. Users must be able to find, copy, and paste the URL of the video to be downloaded. Once the program starts, you will be prompted to save it. If you want to use the video at school, you would save it to a USB stick. No registration or login is required. This should primarily be a teacher resource. If using with students, discuss appropriate and inappropriate uses of the technology as well as choosing necessary videos.

Financial Literacy Resources offers financial lessons targeted for English language learners. However, this is an excellent unit for any student to learn about money management! Topics include managing money, credit, debt, banking, and more delivered through six lesson plans. Each lesson features new media tools such as a budget builder calculator and an online writing interactive. Click on any lesson plan to view in PDF format for easy printing. Note: at the time of this review several of the interactive activities didn't work; however, the lessons and other information available on the site make this worth considering for use during your financial literacy lessons.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Discover the many ready-to-go, free resources that go with these free lesson plans for use with all students, not just English language learners. Include this site on your class web page for students and parents to access as a reference when discussing financial issues at home. Use the calculators found on the site as part of any financial unit or as a math problem solving lesson. Oh, and by-the-way, students will also practice listening, reading, writing, and speaking skills!

Learn global economics with real world experience playing the stock exchange game. Register on the site to browse and find current games to join or create your own game. Game creators choose from many personalization options including type of currency, trading dates, countries to include, and much more. Additional teacher resources include allowing loan options, downloading of all transactions, and streaming ranks for student result comparisons.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use The Global Virtual Stock Exchange to teach economics in your classroom. Before setting up a competition, share the site with students and allow plenty of time to explore the many resources for learning about the stock market and participating in a game. Be sure to point out the Learning Center including many articles for beginners and stock tools. Set up a challenge with other classrooms or learning partners and compete against each other. Have cooperative learning groups create weekly podcasts discussing market trends and the latest economic news. Use a site such as podOmatic, reviewed here.

Using hands-on lessons, students work in teams to learn the basics of investing, create $100,000 portfolios, manage an investment portfolio in a real-world scenario of a dynamic marketplace, learn other economic concepts, and compete against teams across the globe while fostering teamwork and decision-making skills. Created in 1977 by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association Foundation, The Stock Market Game (SMG) is an online simulation game for teaching students about the global capital markets and the stock market. Teachers must register for their school and students and then will receive essential information on program requirements and important dates. Adults are welcome to play after completing the online registration.

In the Classroom

Participants who register as "Teachers with Classes" receive extensive teacher support, including a searchable library of standards, curriculum materials, and assessments. While providing real-world practice, SMG engages students in the core academic subjects, such as math, English, and economics. Lesson plans include Teacher Background and materials to implement the lesson with students. Find more information by perusing additional publications, links, and other resources. Contact a local SMG Coordinator for additional assistance. Use the game in individual classes, school-wide, in after school clubs, or with home-schoolers. Encourage families to play at home together or collaborate with others. Additional benefits include higher math and financial literacy scores on tests by students who play SMG. Also, teachers report that the program even taught them about financial planning, research, and investing wisely. Because this is ongoing activity, enhance learning with the use of technology throughout. Have students share financial resource sites using a bookmarking tool like SearchTeam, reviewed here. In addition to curating and sharing bookmarks, SearchTeam allows users the opportunity to add notes and comments to sites shared. Have students use a video creation tool like Powtoon, reviewed here to make explainer videos of financial concepts. Ask groups of students to produce and share podcasts (perhaps weekly or bi-weekly) to discuss their learning and progress within the Stock Market Game. Buzzsprout, reviewed here is a free tool for creating and sharing podcasts.

Discover and watch publicly funded radio and television programs from America's past with the American Archive of Public Broadcasting. Built as a means to preserve public broadcast programs from the 1940's through the present, over 7000 programs are available for streaming with additions ongoing. In addition to streaming programs, this site also includes curated exhibits on topics of historical significance, such as Climate Change and Voices from the Southern Civil Rights Movement.

In the Classroom

Bookmark the American Archive of Public Broadcasting for use as primary source material for classroom lessons. Browse by topic or keywords to find videos to share on your interactive whiteboard or share a link on your class website for students to view at home. Enhance students' learning and have them use Fakebook, reviewed here, to create a "fake" page similar in style to Facebook about an important figure from America's recent past. Transform student learning by having students create timelines (with music, photos, videos, and more) using Timeline JS, reviewed here, to demonstrate what they learned from one of the radio programs, videos, or exhibits.

Learn something new each day with Highbrow's unique course delivery system. Sign up for a course, then receive an email each day with a five to ten-minute lesson. Each course is completed in ten days making learning quick and easy! Choose from many different course options in subjects such as art, literature, and history. Highbrow only allows one course per user at a time to encourage complete focus on each topic. If you don't see what you like, choose the Create Course option and create your own learning experience using your expertise!

In the Classroom

Highbrow is perfect for differentiated learning. Allow students to choose their own topic and sign up for a course. When complete, choose another topic and start a new course. Have students create commercials for finished courses using Powtoon, reviewed here, and share them using a tool such as TeacherTube, reviewed here. Challenge students to create a course after a unit of study as a final assessment. Be sure to include this site on your class webpage for students to access both in and outside of class for personal use.

Investing for Beginners is a YouTube playlist created by Fidelity Investments. The playlist includes 17 videos covering topics such as Investing for Beginners and How to Define Your Investing Personality. Videos all run less than five minutes in length, making them perfect for quick introductions to financial topics. If your district blocks YouTube, then they may not be viewable. You could always view the videos at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as Online-Convert, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Share videos with your students on an interactive whiteboard or projector. You may be interested in continuing the investment study by having students set up their own practice portfolio for a no-risk option to dabble in stock trading and buying. Use a program like Wall Street Survivor, reviewed here, to do this. Have cooperative learning groups research other aspects of economics or business and challenge the groups to create videos and share them on a site such as SchoolTube, reviewed here.